Gary Donaldson has won hundreds of races in his long career in harness racing, but Live Like A Royal's win at Lord's Raceway last Friday night will always hold a special place in his heart.
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On April 26 this year, Donaldson feared the worst as he watched the mare get struck by a car on McIvor Highway.
Donaldson had been driving Live Like A Royal in training at Lord's Raceway when the sulky shaft severed and the Junourtoun-based trainer was flipped out of the cart.
Live Like A Royal took off in shock and raced towards Donaldson's stables on McIvor Highway.
"She knew the way home, run out of the gate and went straight across the road,'' Donaldson said.
"The poor man driving his car hit her. Fortunately, the driver was fine. He was more worried about the horse than the damage to his car.
"I've only seen one other horse get hit by a car and it suffered a broken leg and had to be put down.
"When I saw her on the side of the road, and the damage that had been done to the car, I thought that was it.
"You could see she had a severe stomach wound but, amazingly, she got up and walked back to the stables. We loaded her straight into the float and had her at the vet clinic within 15 minutes."
More than 50 stitches and staples later, Live Like A Royal survived the ordeal.
"I can't praise the staff at the Bendigo Equine Hospital enough,'' Donaldson said.
"They did an outstanding job."
Donaldson and the owners were elated to keep Live Like A Royal as a breeding proposition, but the mare's toughness quickly forced a change of plan.
"The first step was to get her over her injuries and for her stitches to heal,'' Donaldson said.
"The next step was to watch how she reacted in the paddock.
“After a couple of weeks of being in the paddock she was bolting around the paddock at close to full speed.
"We gave her another six weeks out and then we brought her back into work.
"If she didn't handle it we were going to retire her, but she hasn't taken a backward step."
The comeback was complete on Friday night as she blew away her rivals to record her first win at her eighth career start.
Driven by Rodney Petroff, Live Like A Royal overcame a back row draw to win by more than five metres in a slick mile rate of 1:57.9.
"She's going really well and I reckon we can get another couple of wins out of her," Donaldson said.
Next start for Live Like A Royal is most likely at Mildura next Tuesday night for the first leg of a heat and final series.
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